The walking wounded come to town: Bucks vs. Bulls Preview

Can John Henson keep up the impressive level of play he showed earlier this week? Will this be another hard-fought, low-scoring affair? Aren’t rhetorical questions fun? (Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images)

What to Watch For: Bucks

The Bucks caught a huge break on Tuesday night when Joakim Noah and Luol Deng didn’t play. The depleted Bulls frontline allowed John Henson to produce like a star and helped minimize the Bucks’ deficiencies in rebounding and post play. This time, however, figures to be a tougher challenge as Noah (and possibly Deng) re-enter the Bulls’ lineup. Henson has improved this year guarding opposing bigs and protecting the paint, but his disadvantage against physically-minded opponents has been well documented and figures to be put to the test against a rugged Bulls front line.

In addition, a day off between games should provide a much-needed boost for a team that as of now is playing miserably on the second night of a back-to-back. The Bucks are averaging a dismal 85 points per game in such situations, a number that rises to over 94 points per game with a day’s rest in between games. Larry Drew commented on the situation in his postgame comments on Wednesday, emphasizing that the team needs to find ways to play consistently regardless of scheduling situations and noting that this week would be a good learning experience–especially for the young players–as the team plays four games in five nights.

What to Watch For: Bulls

It looks like they’ll be able to suit up more than nine players in this game. If he plays, Deng is the offensive catalyst the Bulls have desperately needed of late: with Derrick Rose injured once again, Deng has led the Bulls with almost 20 points per game at the small forward position. The Bulls can’t be trusted to score 74 points again and Deng will be the player to keep an eye on.

If he doesn’t his fellow small forward, Mike Dunleavy, will bear watching as well. He picked up some of the slack on Tuesday night, scoring 24 points–a full third of the Bulls’ total, with 18 in the second quarter alone. Dunleavy is familiar to this team, having been a reserve for the Bucks for the last several seasons, and he’s averaged 20 points in his last three games. In a game where offense is sure to be sparse, he may provide the boost the Bulls need to continue their six-game winning streak in Milwaukee.

Projected Lineups

Jeremy’s For Recreational Purposes Only Prediction (aka Betsketball)

Line: Bulls -3

Over/Under: 177.5

I’m just going to ride the under until the Bucks disappoint. Is disappoint the right word there? Maybe instead of disappoint, that should read: resemble a NBA team. Back-to-back sub-80 point games for the Bucks. Even in 2010-11, when Milwaukee had its worst offensive season since the 70s, the Bucks failed to fall to such depths of offensive ineptitude.

Against the Bulls, even this form of the Bulls, breaking 90 points seems highly unlikely. Given Chicago’s own injury problems, I don’t expect a bunch of points in this game. I foolishly took the Bucks to cover the Spurs 11.5 last game. I’ll go Bulls -3 and the under.

Record: 15-11 (5-8 ATS and 10-3 over/under)

Choose the Form of the Destructor: Joakim Noah

(Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)

Joakim Noah is a big dude. He plays tough, gritty basketball. He likes to yell a lot. Not as much as Carlos Boozer, whose cries of “AND-ONE!” after every shot can be heard from the heavens themselves. But still, a fair amount.

He’s also been a key component in helping the Bulls grab 46.3 rebounds per game, good for third in the league. The matchup between Noah and Henson will likely prove to be crucial in determining which team-with-a-shaky-backcourt comes out on the winning end of the matchup.

Prediction: Bulls 89 – Bucks 86

Mitch has been a fan of the Bucks since the days of Big Dog, Ray Ray, and Sammy C. He can often be found in the depths of the Trade Machine constructing some real monstrosities. He's 6'0" with a 5'11" wingspan, negligible vertical, and sees himself as more of a distributor than a scorer. Find him on Twitter @mitchvomhof

3 Comments

Joakim Noah is a guy who seems to have a body type at least somewhat similar to that of John Henson, so he might be at least somewhat of a model for crashing the boards without the need to become over-bulky. Same with Kevin Garnett. Anyway, I just hope that whatever John does in the future, he doesn’t give up too much of is agility and mobility.
These are interesting days for Ekpe and (if he gets minutes, as I hope he does) Miroslav. They may or may not ever get this kind of opportunity in the NBA again, and I hope they throw themselves into the fray with a kind of controlled but reckless enthusiasm.

I agree that Miroslav should get more minutes. Especially since he has such a nice shooting touch. When he gets to the line, he is very accurate. Shooting 80% so far. It would be smart to actually coach him to shoot the ball. If defenses are gonna leave him open, he should shoot. Let’s face it, in our offense, it would be a high percentage look, and might just open up better options and floor spacing, especially because John Henson has a knack for putting the ball in around the rim.

This opens up the discussion: just how wise would it be to trade for Asik, and not only from a financial aspect—apparently Asik is owed 15 million next year (?) which is ridiculous. I think Asik is a good center but he is certainly a very demanding player: he expects to start, and we’ve already banked on Larry, and I think we need to see Larry develop this year. Larry-Henson-Giannis frontline needs to be given a LONG look. Get it? Long look. That was a play on words, am I right? So we got Miroslav for 3 years for hardly any money. He doesn’t operate above the rim like Asik does but he has a better shooting touch. Asik is a below 50% free throw shooter. Anyways in the long run, I don’t think we should trade for Asik, not this year. Also, I don’t think we should give up on Ersan just yet. The guy tore up his ankle pretty good there in the preseason, and if it comes down to it, we can find a more sensible trade piece for him.